Calponin isoform may regulate cytokinesis.

2003 FEB 13 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- An important isoform of calponin, h2-calponin, may regulate elements of cytokinesis, researchers suggest.

According to recent research from the United States, "h2-Calponin is found in both smooth muscle and nonmuscle cells, and its function remains to be established. Western blots with specific monoclonal antibodies detected significant expression of h2-calponin in the growing embryonic stomach and urinary bladder and the early pregnant uterus. Although the expression of h1-calponin is upregulated in the stomach and bladder during postnatal development, the expression of h2-calponin is decreased to low levels in quiescent smooth muscle cells."

"To investigate a hypothesis that h2-calponin regulates the function of the actin cytoskeleton during cytokinesis, a smooth muscle-originated cell line (SM3) lacking calponin was transfected to express either sense or antisense h2-calponin cDNA and the effects on the rates of cell proliferation were examined," wrote M.M. Hossain and colleagues, Case Western Reserve University, School of Medicine.

"Both stable and transient sense cDNA-transfected cells had a significantly decreased proliferation rate compared with the antisense cDNA-transfected or nontransfected cells. Immunofluorescence ...